News

I don’t remember who asked the question. I do remember it was a voice of irritation that asked, “Mr. Lieberman, why do we have to study history? It’s so boring!” Mr. Charles Lieberman, teacher of 10th grade American History, Weatherly Area High School, Weatherly, PA, responded in a non-defensive way and said, “We study history to learn about the mistakes of the past, so we don’t have to repeat them. We also study it to learn about the good things we did so we might have the courage to do them again. If we don’t do this, life certainly won’t be boring.”

Okay, maybe the last part of his response was just a tad defensive. As a person with an interest in history, I am quite concerned about the current attempt by many to edit out the difficult and, yes, downright evil parts of history. All nations have these. All need to study and discuss them.

Why is there a national Smithsonian Museum to the Holocaust (with an ELCA apology as Lutherans for Luther)? Why study the Holocaust? So it won’t be forgotten lest it be repeated. Americans always need reminding: the Holocaust happened in one of the more cultured nations of the world. It can happen again, anywhere.

Why does the past frighten us? Do we fear some of the evil in the past might somehow be buried deep within us? Human behavior and scripture would remind us: it is! Do you honestly think had you lived in Nazi Germany you would not have been a Nazi and would not have approved of the Holocaust? Few did anything to prevent it. Silence, even for safety’s sake is seen and understood as acceptance. The church had some heroic efforts in Nazi Germany, but mostly it’s actions and inactions were shameful.

We very much need to study the heroic deeds of 1776, the Emancipation, and so many positive parts of our history. We need to do so against the reality of slavery, Jim Crow, denial of women’s rights, and our own Holocaust spread over time with Native Americans. How can you and I understand who America is without studying it in its entirety? How can we understand, for example, native peoples in our country today without an understanding of their history and ours? How can you and I understand who we are as humans and as individuals with no reflection up our sins and sinfulness? How can we do something corrective about our nation’s sins and our own personal sins without study and reflection?

Ignorance is not bliss. It is simply ignorance. It is an openness to committing once again the same sin. While history can be misused by all people, its omission of misdeeds large and small is possibly the greatest misuse.

I remember in high school at basketball games we would chant: “We’re number one!” Sometimes we were, most times we were not. But we were still decent. We still had value and worth to the school, the small town, and each other. It seems we have a great need to be #1 in the world…the best nation and the best people. I have had the privilege to travel to 30 countries. There are a lot of good people and a lot of good countries out there. I have no idea who is best; neither do I care. I just want mine to be as good as it can be for all. As Christians we don’t have to be #1. We only need remember in baptism God said we were #1….for all time. It seems to me we can take it from there even confronting and then dealing with our own dark side. Maybe that is truly being #1.

Mainline Christians rarely talk about evil. Some Christian groups talk too much about evil. For example, one of many conspiracy theories floating around these days is that “Satan” is now controlling the US government.

There is quite a difference in how Christians talk about evil. Many see a person as either good or evil. Others, like Lutherans, tend to see evil and good within each person. All of us do seem to think some people seem to emit more of one side or the other.

Another difference in addressing evil does have to do with Satan/the devil, Beelzebub, the Evil One…take your pick. Satan as you may know was first mentioned in the Bible in the book of Job (no, the Garden of Eden tempter was simply called a serpent, not a devil or Satan). In Job Satan is actually portrayed as an agent of God. Satan’s task in Job is similar to that of a prosecuting attorney, not someone lurking around the world bringing about destruction.

My point here is there is no one systematic and concise picture in Scripture of an evil being. What is scripturally clear is that evil exists and evil is a power and destructive force with which to be reckoned. How much destruction has been wrought upon the world by evil powers! How much is being wrought now by such powers! Typically evil wears a most beguiling disguise. It comes wearing the camouflage of good.

While we Lutherans tend to see evil more as force than being, I sometimes wish it was a simple as some evil being. We would have an enemy of one. The enemy would be known and we could probe its vulnerabilities until defeat was certain. But alas, if evil is a power, present in all people, and therefore all associations of people (church, government, kids’ sports teams, etc.) then the battlefields are many and scattered around the world. In fact, to quote cartoonist Walt Kelly, “We have met the enemy and he is us”, a play on the words of Naval officer Oliver Hazzard Perry in the War of 1812 to General, later (briefly) president, William Harrison, “We have met the enemy and he is ours.”

That is the problem with evil. It is everywhere and it has found a home even with us. It bubbles outward in hate. It surfaces in acts petty and large. It is hidden in systems in which we willingly participate. It is there both seen and hidden from us. As a power and force often sold as something good evil is far more difficult to defeat than were it contained to a being who was out simply looking for recruits.

Fortunately we do not struggle with evil alone. There are those in the church struggling with us. Those whom we know, and those around the world whom we shall never know. There is the power of good, constantly renewed and strengthened in faith as we worship, serve, learn, repent, and forgive. This power is none other than the power of Christ, through Christ’s very body, the church. It comes in word, sacrament, as we gather together. That power too is everywhere. That power too is within and through us. So on we struggle, battle by battle; together, with the presence of Christ.